Turkey and the Middle East and North Africa Under the AKP: A Three Level Analysis of Foreign Policy Change

Abstract

This article analyzes the significant foreign policy changes with respect to Turkey’s relations with the Middle East and North Africa region within four relatively distinct periods of the two-decade rule of the Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi - 2002-2010; 2011-2015; 2016-2020; 2020-2022. It analyzes Turkey’s foreign policy changes based on the application of three intersecting levels of analysis: transformations in the regional and global international system, shifts in domestic politics and changes in individual leadership. The article contributes to the foreign policy literature by demonstrating that the continuity in power of a more centralized government does not guarantee continuity in foreign policy as conceptualized in the literature on foreign policy change.